


The lovers

by MelindaCoulson4



Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV)
Genre: Coulson is in for the shock of his life, F/M, Family Feels, Philinda discuss Daisy's new relationship, Shock, Team as Family, The robot can't take a hint, Time Travel
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-07
Updated: 2020-07-07
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:28:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,232
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25119907
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MelindaCoulson4/pseuds/MelindaCoulson4
Summary: "It appears that Agent Johnson and Agent Sousa are in the midst of a lover's quarrel," Enoch chimed in with his familiar monotone voice.Coulson has come back, but he's missed a certain development pertaining to Daisy & Sousa. Enoch steps in to inform him. May does damage control afterwards. Mainly philinda with sprinkles of daisy/sousa
Relationships: Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson & Melinda May & Skye | Daisy Johnson, Phil Coulson/Melinda May, Skye | Daisy Johnson/Daniel Sousa
Comments: 27
Kudos: 217





	The lovers

**Author's Note:**

> This is the real Coulson & May's empathic powers have faded

"We'll drop him where he belongs...the first chance we get," Mack said of the man from 1989 in holding. "That's our top priority."  
  
"Next to getting Agent Sousa back home to the 50's," Phil chimed in.  
  
Melinda's stomach clenched. Phil was going to push the issue. Everyone except for him knew the real reason why Sousa wanted to stay.  
  
"For all they know Sousa died back in 1955...and it'll stay that way," Mack said, attempting to shut down the line of questioning.  
  
"But we can still jump back. We can help him set up an alias...give him back some semblance of a life. Shouldn't be that hard with this technology," Phil argued.  
  
With the addition of Fitz, the rest of the science team had been able to modify the jump drive so they could control how and when the zephyr traveled through time.  
  
Phil turned to Sousa. "You deserve to go home just like the rest of us." It was good natured, agent to agent camaraderie. "Leave no man behind, right?"  
  
All eyes went to Sousa. He looked disconcerted by the prospect of going anywhere at the moment. But Phil had paused, waiting for him to agree. "Uh...right," Sousa agreed, nodding awkwardly.  
  
Daisy scoffed. "1955 should be our next stop then. I wouldn't want you to feel so out of place, Agent Sousa," she finished, setting him with a chilling glare. "I should really go check on our prisoner." Daisy turned on her heal and set off in a brisk pace.

There was a loaded silence that settled over the rest of the team. Sousa took no precaution in hiding the way he followed Daisy's every move. For an agent, he was terribly poor at deception. Every emotion was plainly written on his face. "If you'll all excuse me," he said, then walked the same path that Daisy had.  
  
Eyebrows furrowed, Phil tracked Sousa’s trail. "What just happened? Kinda feels like I'm missing something,” he stated, not grasping what had unfolded right before his eyes.  
  
"Yea...I'm lost," Fitz said, face screwed up like he was staring at a complex math formula.  
  
Simmons elbowed him not so subtly.  
  
"What the _bloody hell_ was that for?" He whispered dramatically and full of outrage.  
  
"It appears that Agent Johnson and Agent Sousa are in the midst of a lover's quarrel," Enoch chimed in with his familiar monotone voice.   
  
Melinda's nostrils flared. If looks could kill she would've flattened him.  
  
A chuckle filled the room. One she was familiar with. Her eyes snapped to Phil. His attention was focused on Enoch. Clearly amused by the comment, a good-natured smile had formed on Phil's face. "I think you've got some wires crossed," Phil said, dismissing the insinuation almost immediately.  
  
That would've been the end of it, if not for the sentient chronicom lacking any social cues.  
  
Inquisitive, Enoch tilted his head. "I have not taken any significant blows to my mainframe. It is intact. And I am quite certain about Agents Johnson and Sousa. It was a disagreement spurred on by the status quo of their relationship which is sexual by nature."  
  
Deke just about choked on his own tongue.  
  
"Alright that's enough," Mack briskly cut in. "Simmons don't you have something that needs Enoch's attention?" He asked pointedly.  
  
"Right." Simmons swallowed, trying to come up with something on the fly. "Yes. I-"  
  
Enoch turned to Phil. "I have seen one of these trysts with my own eyes, Agent Coulson. By accident might I add. And unlike humans my ocular spheres do not deceive me," he stated proudly.  
  
Melinda growled and took a threatening step forward. "Stop talking before I turn you into a pile of spare parts."  
  
Hurriedly, Simmons interfered. "Okay. Into the other room. _Now_." Simmons and Deke started corralling Enoch towards the door. At a loss for what to do, Fitz trailed behind.  
  
It was too late to backtrack. The robot had ruined their cover-up.  
  
Wanting no part of the reveal, Yo-Yo and Mack made themselves scarce.  
  
"We've got that..." Yo-Yo nodded her head towards the exit, itching to bolt.  
  
"Yea," Mack agreed. He shot Melinda a sympathetic glance as he passed.   
  
By the end of it, she and Phil were the only ones left in the room. When she turned to him, he was still smiling. "I go away for a little while and the chronicom learns to tell a joke." He shook his head fondly. "Needs work on the content," he paused, thinking for a moment, "and delivery but still, that's pretty impressive."  
  
With the knowledge that she was about to crush him, she couldn't even muster up a small smile. "It wasn't a joke," she confessed.  
  
His hands fell to her hips and he went on ignoring the reality of the situation. "So _this_ is my payback? A new running gag you came up with and had them all agree to...seems awfully academy of you." He was under the impression that this was one of her elaborate academy era pranks.  
  
She pulled his hands away from her body, but held onto them. Things could not turn into anything more. Having just recently reunited, he had a way of making her forget about everything except him, but they had to talk. "Phil," she stated solemnly. "You should sit down."  
  
He followed willingly as she tugged him towards the loading bay. They took two of the seats that were built into the wall. Still firmly believing her actions to be part of the gag, he smirked.  
  
She grabbed his hand, lacing their fingers together to help soften the blow. Then settled him with a look. "This thing with Daisy and Sousa is real."  
  
As he studied her, the smile slipped off his face. He sat back abruptly. "No way. Come on. No," he denied.   
  
She sighed. "We could sit here all day...the truth won't change."  
  
"This isn't funny anymore, May," he said, reverting back to their old way of addressing each other. The grip he had on her hand loosened.  
  
She stared at him and came to the conclusion that he wasn't going to accept the truth until it was slapping him in the face. "Just remember you're forcing my hand." She dropped her hold on his hand. There was a workstation next to their seats. She went to it and booted up the screen. Melinda knew the day she needed to show Phil. Daisy and Sousa had been separated out in the field. They feared he wasn't going to make it back to the zephyr before the next jump. But he had.

She scanned through the footage and found what she needed. The video began playing. It was the last thing she wanted to do. But Phil would never come to terms with it otherwise. On the screen, a shadow appeared through the small gap between the ramp and the top of the zephyr. A body rolled down the ramp. Daisy could be seen running to it. The two figures rose to their knees, joined in a tight embrace. The man pulled back and it became clear that it was Sousa. Their heads moved together again and they began to kiss – passionately.

Melinda turned and found that Phil’s face was a picture of complete horror. They were nearby the very same spot that was in the video. He seemed to realize it too.  
  
"No. No. No. No. This isn't happening." His eyes snapped shut. "Wake up. Wake up," he demanded of himself.  
  
Sighing, she clicked out of the surveillance footage and went back to her seat. In an attempt to soothe him, her hand rubbed over his thigh. "You need to take a breath," she told him calmly.  
  
"You...you..." He shook his head, so disoriented that he couldn't even form words. After several deep breaths, he continued. "You let me spend all day with him."   
  
The roll of her eyes was instinctual at this point. "What difference would it have made if I'd told you?"  
  
"I don't know. I wouldn't have been so nice to him for starters! Acting like some giddy idiot instead of.... interrogating him for one…asking his intentions…figuring out who the hell he thinks he is." His hands flew out in front of him with nervous energy.  
  
The two of them always had similar thoughts when it came to protecting Daisy. After getting over the initial shock, Melinda had paid Sousa a visit and put the fear of God in him. For days afterward he wouldn't even meet her eye. "I already did that," she told Phil.  
  
"Yea, well thanks for telling me. I appreciate it." He scowled.  
  
A pang of regret hit her then, but it was fleeting. Her motivations outweighed his wounded feelings. "I didn't know if your heart would be able to take the shock," she confessed.  
  
"I guess we know the answer now. News like this is not even on the scale of regular shock. It's on the ‘hey my head is exploding’ level of shock," he stated dramatically.  
  
Her eyes narrowed. "I'm being serious," she said.  
  
"So am I. _Ugh_...this is a nightmare." Both his hands came up to scrub over his face.  
  
Melinda had become all too familiar with nightmares. This wasn't one of them. The news was hard to swallow, for sure, but not anywhere near nightmare level status. Sousa treated Daisy with respect and made her laugh. It made Melinda happy to catch them in moments like that. It was everything she and Phil could hope for: Daisy's happiness. Phil just couldn't see it yet, but she knew he would come around to the idea of it soon enough.  
  
Suddenly Phil sat up a sheepish look on his face. "I think what happened back there is my fault," he said slowly.  
  
"What do you mean?"   
  
"In the car earlier Sousa and I talked...."  
  
"And?" She prompted.  
  
"We talked about relationships. What they mean to us. What's important.” Phil seemed to zone out, staring at a point on the zephyr’s ramp.  
  
She watched him, still not understanding what he was getting at.  
  
He shook his head. "The whole time I thought he was talking about Peggy Carter…not. Not..." Tongue tied, he was unable to make himself say her name.  
  
"Daisy," she supplied.  
  
His eyes jumped up. " _Really_?" He asked unamused.  
  
She thought better of saying anything. Talking was his forte. He would work out whatever he was trying to communicate to her by verbalizing it. He'd always been that way.

"He talked about where he felt at home. I told him home wasn't a place, it was a feeling,” Phil recalled.  
  
Sceneries changed but their team stayed the same. They could be in the future or the past. In an airplane or on a base. As long as Phil was with her it didn't matter where or when they were.  
  
"She kept it from me. Did she not want me to know?" The hurt was written plainly on his crumbling features.  
  
Melinda jumped in to squash that idea before it took hold of him. "It was me. Not Daisy. I was serious about your heart. I just got you back." She didn't need to lie about her fears for his health. It was the truth and she wouldn't shy away from it.   
  
His features softened. "I'm fine, Melinda. Simmons said as much," he said, attempting to quell her fears.  
  
"I know." It was difficult to accept that when everything she'd seen was the exact opposite. The amount of times she'd lost him had reached a number too great to keep track of. She wasn't interested in doing it ever again. But this conversation wasn't about them. Right now, they had to focus on Daisy and her relationship with Sousa.  
  
"Why are you okay with this instead of tracking Sousa down to punch him or something?" He asked.  
  
That earned him a smile. He knew her all too well. She had tested Sousa over and over again with the threat of harm, but he came out on top every time. It made her sad for all that Phil had missed, but he was here now and that's all that mattered. "Who says I haven't already done that?" She tossed back cryptically. Half the fun was keeping him guessing.  
  
A genuine smile formed then. He leaned forward and kissed her. It was a gentle press of their lips. A simple reassurance that they were okay. When they parted, her right hand went to work straightening the collar of his shirt.  
  
"He's a good man," she told Phil, needing to reassure him that Daisy had chosen well.  
  
Still not acclimated to the idea, his face screwed up. But it was minor discomfort compared to the shock he'd exhibited before. "Kind of emasculating the way you talk about another man after I kiss you," he quipped.  
  
"Funny," she replied, sarcastically, fighting a smile.  
  
He took hold of the hand she had at his collar, pulling it down and rubbing it nervously between two of his own. Clearly preoccupied, she granted him a quiet moment to process everything.  
  
"I implied that Sousa didn't want to be here, but now that I think of it…that's not what he meant at all," Phil said regretfully.  
  
The last thing he would ever want was to hurt Daisy.  
  
"So go fix it," she told him.  
  
And he did.


End file.
